The Prophecy of the Gentile Prophet

Dear Friends,

Our courage and strength to be different – to
become the rainbow people that can serve as a
universal model – is rooted in the legacy of our
forefathers and foremothers. A source for this
idea is found in the Torah portion of this
Shabbos, which describes how, Hashem, the
Compassionate One, caused the Gentile Prophet,
Balaam, to bless our people when we were camping
in the wilderness on our way to the Promised
Land. The Torah states, “Hashem put an utterance
in Balaam’s mouth” (Numbers 23:5), and the
following is an excerpt from his prophetic words
regarding the destiny of Yisrael –
Israel:

“I see it from the summit of the rocks, and from
the hills do I view it; this is a people that
will dwell apart and not be reckoned among the
nations.” (Numbers 23:9).

He viewed us from “the summit of the rocks and
from the hills.” According to Midrash Tanchuma,
the “rocks” are a metaphor for our Patriarchs
(Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), and the “hills” are
a metaphor for our Matriarchs (Sarah, Rebecca,
Rachel, and Leah). Based on the Midrash Tanchuma,
Rashi explains that Balaam was looking at their
roots – the source of their strength.

Yes, we have a Divine mandate to “dwell apart”
in order to develop an alternative society that
can serve an ethical and spiritual model of
Torah – the Divine Path. Rabbi Samson Raphael
Hirsch elaborates on this idea in his classical
work “The Nineteen Letters” – an explanation of
our path which was written in the form of
letters to a young Jewish seeker. Rabbi Hirsch
writes:

“Torah, the fulfillment of the Divine Will,
constitutes the foundation, basis and goal of
this people. Its nationhood is therefore not
tied to transitory things or dependent on
anything of a passing nature; it is as eternal
and everlasting as spirit and soul and the Word
of the Eternal…Therefore, a land, prosperity and
institutions of statehood were to be put at
Yisrael’s disposal not as goals in themselves,
but as means for the fulfillment of Torah.
Accordingly, they all were granted to Yisrael on
one – and only one – condition: that it would
indeed fulfill the Torah. Blessed with all these
gifts, this people had to remain separate from
the nations, lest it learn from them to consider
these blessings an end in themselves.” (Letter
Eight)

This separation is to lead us to a universal
goal. As Rabbi Hirsch explains to his young
correspondent:

“You wrote that the Torah isolates us. True! If
it did not, Yisrael would long since have lost
its identity. Look what struggles are required
to preserve the purity of Yisrael’s spirit
within our people despite this isolation! But
does this spell enmity? Or pride? As if God were
not the Lord of all creatures, all human beings?
An unfortunate misinterpretation indeed! After
all, Yisrael has no other task than to
acknowledge as its God the One Who calls and
educates all human beings to His service, and to
make Him known as such through its destiny and
way of life!” (Letter Fifteen, p. 198)

As we discussed previously, our tradition
reveals that we are a “rainbow” people that
incorporates the seventy diverse traits within
the universe so that we can serve as a source of
inspiration and blessing for the seventy primary
nations of the earth. We also cited the
following Midrash which gives us a deeper
understanding of our rainbow role:

May we therefore merit to soon experience the
great “Rainbow Gathering” in Jerusalem, the city
of seventy names. This gathering will take place
when Yisrael, the people of seventy names, will
inspire the seventy nations to serve the Holy
One, Who has seventy names, through fulfilling
the universal path within the Torah – the Divine
Teaching with seventy names. A reference to this
universal gathering appears in the following
prophecy which describes the pilgrimage of the
nations to the Temple of Hashem – the
Compassionate One – in Jerusalem:

“It will happen in the end of days: The mountain
of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly
established as the head of the mountains, and it
will be exalted above the hills, and all the
nations will stream to it…For from Zion will go
forth Torah, and the word of Hashem from
Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2: 2,3)